One for the Angels
"One For The Angels" is the second episode of the The Twilight Zone. From the CBS Video Library cover: "Lew Bookman (Ed Wynn) is an unremarkable, sixtyish salesman who works the city streets. Life passes without incident, until one July afternoon when Mr. Death informs him that he is to die at midnight. Faced with the problem of dinding a replacement for his elusive subject Death arranges for little Maggie, a neighborhood child, to die in a traffic accident. Bookman, now determined to save the girl, has no choice but to confront Mr. Death and deliver the toughest sales pitch of his career."CBS Video Library: Twilight Zone #0307 "Invaders/One For The Angels/Eye of the Beholder/The Lonely," Format: NTSC, VHS, Collector's Edition (1987) Episode Details Opening Narration "Street scene: Summer. The present. Man on a sidewalk named Lew Bookman, age sixtyish. Occupation: Pitchman. Lew Bookman, a fixture of the summer, a rather minor component to a hot July; a nondescript, commonplace little man whose life is a treadmill built out of sidewalks. In just a moment, Lew Bookman will have to concern himself with survival, because as of three o'clock this hot July afternoon he'll be stalked by Mr. Death." Episode Summary Lewis Bookman, a street vendor, finds himself faced with a customer he isn't willing to satisfy. That customer is Mr. Death and what he wants is to claim Mr. Bookman's life. The salesman is certain that he has managed to cheat death but when Mr. Death is forced to claim another soul in Bookman's place, the elderly pitchman begins to regret his decision. Closing Narration "Lewis J. Bookman, age sixtyish. Occupation: Pitchman. Formerly a fixture of the summer, formerly a rather minor component to a hot July. But throughout his life, a man beloved by the children, and therefore a most important man. Couldn't happen, you say? Probably not in most places, but it did happen in the Twilight Zone." Preview for Next Week's Story "Next week, we invite you to take a walk down a Western frontier street at the elbow of a doomed gunman, whose salvation lies in nothing less than a magic potion and...a Colt .45. Mr. Dan Duryea stars in "Mr. Denton on Doomsday," next week on The Twilight Zone. We hope you'll be able to be with us. Thank you and good night." Themes This episode dealt heavily with the theme of death and its inevitability. This was assisted by having death personified in the character Mr. Death, depicted as a strict but not unpleasant bureaucrat who must complete his task or suffer the collapse of all reality. Also examined is the contrast between the age of children and the age of the elderly and the expectations from life that change from the passage on from the former to the latter. It is a study of obligation and responsibility, in which Lewis Bookman and Mr. Death are forced to accept their roles, however reluctantly: Mr. Death feeling forced to select an innocent child's life to maintain order and fulfill the obligations he has as the agent of death and Mr. Bookman having to accept his own death and take responsibility for it in order to avoid having its effects thrust upon someone else. A somewhat similar premise had already been used in the 1934 film, Death Takes a Holiday, which would be remade in 1971 under the same name as the original and again in 1998's Meet Joe Black, starring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins.Wikipedia: One For The Angels Background Information Cast *Rod Serling (Narrator (voice)) *Ed Wynn (Lewis "Lew" Bookman) *Murray Hamilton (Mr. Death) *Dana Dillaway (Maggie) *Jay Overholts (doctor) *Merritt Bohn (truck driver) *Mickey Maga (Ricky; uncredited) Crew *Rod Serling (writer; executive producer: Cayuga Productions *Buck Houghton (producer) *George T. Clemens (director of photography) *Lyle Boyer (film editor) *Millie Gusse (casting; credited: Mildred Gusse) *George W. Davis (art director) *William Ferrari (art director) *Rudy Butler (set decorator) *Henry Grace (set decorator) *Ralph W. Nelson (production manager) *Edward O. Denault (assistant director (credited: Edward Denault) *Franklin Milton (sound; credited: Frank Milton) *Jean G. Valentino (sound; credited: Jean Valentino) *Van Allen James (sound effects editor; uncredited) Production Companies *Cayuga Productions *Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (in association with) Distributors *Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1959) (USA) (TV) (original airing) *Corporation, The (2008) (France) (DVD) Other * United Productions of America (UPA) : animated title * Westrex Recording System : recording system Trivia *This episode's title sequence narrative changed from the version used in the pilot, notably changing the "sixth dimension" to the "fifth dimension:" "There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call the Twilight Zone."CraxyAboutTV.com: The Twilight Zone TV Show (1959) *Louis Bookman (1890 – 1943) was a Lithuanian footballer and cricketer who left his native country for Ireland in the 1890's because of anti-Semitism. He represented his adopted country, Ireland, in both sports. Although Mr. Serling did address the subject of anti-Semitism in several episodes of the series, it is unknown if the name is more than coincidence.Wikipedia: Louis Bookman Cast Connections *Murray Hamilton is probably better remembered for his role playing a different "mister," appearing as Mr. Robinson in the 1967 film The Graduate. *The character of Mr. Death appears again in a later episode of the series, Season 3's Nothing In The Dark, this time portrayed by Robert Redford.Wikipedia: One For The Angels *Ed Wynn would later appear in Season 5's Ninety Years Without Slumbering *Jay Overholts appeared in a total of eight episodes of The Twilight Zone, the others being Season 1's Where is Everybody?, Season 2's A Thing About Machines, Twenty Two, The Odyssey of Flight 33, and Static, and Season 3's The Jungle and Showdown with Rose McGrew. *A Robby The Robot action figure can be seen as one of the toys that Bookman is selling on the street. The robot would later appear in two more The Twilight Zone episodes, Season 5's Uncle Simon and The Brain Center at Whipple's.Wikipedia: One For The Angels Memorable Quotes Notes and References External Links *One For The Angels at IMDB *Wikipedia: One For The Angels *View the Episode at CBS.com Category:Episodes Category:1959-1960 Season Category:First Series Episodes